Any reporter knows that being "fair" is not the same thing as being objective. Contrary to popular phraseology, there is no such thing as "objective" journalism. News stories are written by humans, who make choices about which subjects to showcase and which quotes to use -- choices, therefore, that kill so-called objectivity.
But you can be fair.
Which brings me to today's Washington Post. A story there about soaring unemployment rates among young black men raises many important and troubling points: namely that joblessness within this population -- a stunning 34.5 percent -- has skyrocketed to levels not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s. That is a disaster and bodes ill for the future, even after we pull out of this recession.
Yet you can't help wondering at the newspaper's decision to use a 24-year-old convicted drug dealer as the leading illustration of these dismal facts -- especially when they also interviewed a highly educated, young black woman.
Apparently, Delonta Spriggs felt he had to deal drugs to support his 3-year-old daughter after work in the construction industry didn't pan out. But if you're trying to focus readers' attention on a complex problem, don't you undercut the point by attaching it to a less-than-sympathetic -- perhaps less-than-credible source?
Discuss....
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
If You Think No One's Listening, Think Again
Latino civil rights advocates in Texas say two unexpected victories earlier this month give them hope for the possibility of real immigration-policy reform in 2010. Both events were symbolic, rather than policy-based, but in these media-driven days, symbolism can galvanize masses.
The first was the well-publicized resignation of frequent immigration-rights critic Lou Dobbs from his news anchor post at CNN. The second, also job-related, involves the firing of a Texas elections official accused of making disparaging remarks about Spanish-speaking voters.
Two weeks ago at a seminar for political party bosses, Melinda Nickless, an assistant director in Texas's state elections division, advised election workers to talk to Spanish-speaking voters as if they are dumb, or perhaps hard-of-hearing.
"Say really slow and loud: 'Sit down, I will call someone to help you. Un momento por favor, me telefono somebody.'” Nickless is reported to have said. She then quipped about the day her mother's car was hit by a Spanish-speaking shopper outside of a Wal-Mart, who disappeared from the scene.
“Really mother, duh,” Nickless said to chuckles from her audience.
But Democratic Party activist Rosalie Weisfeld was so offended that she stood up to complain, and then took the matter to Nickless's boss -- who happens to be Texas’s first Latina secretary of state.
“I stood up to say that all citizens who enter a polling place to vote should be treated with dignity and respect, no matter what language they speak," she told the Rio Grande Guardian. "I stood up to speak for all voters after a high level member of the Secretary of State's office told a demeaning story and gave offensive instructions about assisting Spanish speaking voters to more than 400 Democratic and Republican chairs, election administrators and other election staff charged with ensuring the sanctity of the vote.”
Martha Sanchez, community activist for La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), said both incidents show that "Latinos cannot be denigrated anymore." She characterized the Dobbs resignation and Nickless' firing as "two small victories on the way to the big one: comprehensive immigration reform.”
The first was the well-publicized resignation of frequent immigration-rights critic Lou Dobbs from his news anchor post at CNN. The second, also job-related, involves the firing of a Texas elections official accused of making disparaging remarks about Spanish-speaking voters.
Two weeks ago at a seminar for political party bosses, Melinda Nickless, an assistant director in Texas's state elections division, advised election workers to talk to Spanish-speaking voters as if they are dumb, or perhaps hard-of-hearing.
"Say really slow and loud: 'Sit down, I will call someone to help you. Un momento por favor, me telefono somebody.'” Nickless is reported to have said. She then quipped about the day her mother's car was hit by a Spanish-speaking shopper outside of a Wal-Mart, who disappeared from the scene.
“Really mother, duh,” Nickless said to chuckles from her audience.
But Democratic Party activist Rosalie Weisfeld was so offended that she stood up to complain, and then took the matter to Nickless's boss -- who happens to be Texas’s first Latina secretary of state.
“I stood up to say that all citizens who enter a polling place to vote should be treated with dignity and respect, no matter what language they speak," she told the Rio Grande Guardian. "I stood up to speak for all voters after a high level member of the Secretary of State's office told a demeaning story and gave offensive instructions about assisting Spanish speaking voters to more than 400 Democratic and Republican chairs, election administrators and other election staff charged with ensuring the sanctity of the vote.”
Martha Sanchez, community activist for La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), said both incidents show that "Latinos cannot be denigrated anymore." She characterized the Dobbs resignation and Nickless' firing as "two small victories on the way to the big one: comprehensive immigration reform.”
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Immigration Reform on the Map
Tomorrow night, Nov. 18, communities across Texas will hold "listening parties" to get a sense of the immigration reform legislation about to be proposed by Illinois Rep. Luiz V. Gutierrez.
Perhaps there is enough of a groundswell nationally to finally move the dial on this issue -- one that has been mired in endlessly politicized debate. Already, The New York Times has weighed in and President Obama has said he will make immigration reform a central part of his agenda in 2010.
Stay tuned.
Perhaps there is enough of a groundswell nationally to finally move the dial on this issue -- one that has been mired in endlessly politicized debate. Already, The New York Times has weighed in and President Obama has said he will make immigration reform a central part of his agenda in 2010.
Stay tuned.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Down to Basics: Recession and the Dinner Table
On Monday came word that will be old news to 17 million households: parents are scrimping on food and children across the country went hungry in 2008.
According to a government report -- the same one that has been conducted each year since 1995 -- millions more people went hungry in 2008 than had in 2007. And Vicki Escarra, president of Feeding America, a nonprofit organization with a national network of more than 200 food banks, told The New York Times that the Agriculture Department had probably understated the problem.
With unemployment and other economic indicators continuing to worsen in 2009, she said, “there are likely many more people struggling with hunger than this report states.”
Moreover, for those with incomes at the federal poverty line, as well as homes headed by single parents, blacks or Latinos, the so-called "food insecurity" rates were worse still. Regionally, food insecurity was most prevalent in the South.
According to a government report -- the same one that has been conducted each year since 1995 -- millions more people went hungry in 2008 than had in 2007. And Vicki Escarra, president of Feeding America, a nonprofit organization with a national network of more than 200 food banks, told The New York Times that the Agriculture Department had probably understated the problem.
With unemployment and other economic indicators continuing to worsen in 2009, she said, “there are likely many more people struggling with hunger than this report states.”
Moreover, for those with incomes at the federal poverty line, as well as homes headed by single parents, blacks or Latinos, the so-called "food insecurity" rates were worse still. Regionally, food insecurity was most prevalent in the South.
Friday, November 13, 2009
16 States Tell Poor, 'Show Us the Money'
A national analysis by the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has found that 16 states -- including many identified by Marguerite Casey Foundation as having some of the neediest residents in the country -- tax the working poor even deeper into poverty.
In the south last year, Alabama collected almost $500 from two-parent families raising children on less than $22,000.
In Georgia, extremely poor families, meaning those couples raising children on less than $16,513, were taxed. Other states following similar policy are Hawaii, Michigan, West Virgina, Illinois, Indiana, Montana and Ohio.
The outlook was even worse for single parents. In three states -- Alabama, Georgia and Montana -- mothers or fathers raising children on earnings of less than $12,874 were required to pay.
“Undermining families’ efforts to work their way out of poverty is never a good idea,” says Phil Oliff, co-author of the study. “But it’s especially harmful in the current recession, when people are already struggling just to get by.”
Twenty-six states, he notes, collect taxes from families with household incomes hovering just above the poverty line.
Over the past two decades, policymakers increasingly have viewed tax exemption for poor families as a straightforward way to reduce poverty and support work. Between 1991 and 2008, the number of states levying income taxes on such families decreased from 24 to 16, and the federal government has exempted poor families since the mid-1980s.
Taxing people deeper into poverty runs counter to the goal of helping families achieve self-sufficiency,” Oliff says.
In the south last year, Alabama collected almost $500 from two-parent families raising children on less than $22,000.
In Georgia, extremely poor families, meaning those couples raising children on less than $16,513, were taxed. Other states following similar policy are Hawaii, Michigan, West Virgina, Illinois, Indiana, Montana and Ohio.
The outlook was even worse for single parents. In three states -- Alabama, Georgia and Montana -- mothers or fathers raising children on earnings of less than $12,874 were required to pay.
“Undermining families’ efforts to work their way out of poverty is never a good idea,” says Phil Oliff, co-author of the study. “But it’s especially harmful in the current recession, when people are already struggling just to get by.”
Twenty-six states, he notes, collect taxes from families with household incomes hovering just above the poverty line.
Over the past two decades, policymakers increasingly have viewed tax exemption for poor families as a straightforward way to reduce poverty and support work. Between 1991 and 2008, the number of states levying income taxes on such families decreased from 24 to 16, and the federal government has exempted poor families since the mid-1980s.
Taxing people deeper into poverty runs counter to the goal of helping families achieve self-sufficiency,” Oliff says.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Help with heating bills available for poor
Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas customers in need of help with their heating bills can apply now for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Customers may be eligible if their income is 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. For a family of four, that is a 30-day income level of $2,756. For a single individual, that is $1,354.
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More districts use income, not race, as basis for busing
Struggling to improve schools that have large populations of poor and minority students and under legal pressure to avoid racial busing, a small but growing group of school districts are integrating schools by income.
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=Half of American kids will live in households receiving food stamps before age 20, according to a study reported Monday in Archives of Pediatrics & A
Half of American kids will live in households receiving food stamps before age 20, according to a study reported Monday in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
Although one in five children rely on food stamps for years, many more live in families who turn to food stamps during a short-term crisis, says author Mark Rank of Washington University in St. Louis. He analyzed 30 years of data from the University of Michigan's Panel Study of Income Dynamics survey.
Read MoreSunday, November 1, 2009
Edelman remains the children's advocate
Marian Wright Edelman speaks softly and rapidly, rattling off statistics about children in poverty.
"We lose a child to gun violence every two hours and forty-five minutes," the founder of the Children's Defense Fund said. "That's eight children a day."
Read MoreDeaths of Hospitalized Children Linked to Lack of Insurance
In research published online in the October 30th Journal of Public Health, researcher Fizan Abdullah, MD, PhD, assistant professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, found that children without insurance are 60% more likely to die from a serious illness than a sick child that does have insurance.
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Homeless for the holidays
When the temperature hits 40 degrees at night, Katherine Jhllenkenes starts shaking.
"You have to drink sugar and water or wine," said Jhellenkenes, 48.
She typically gets about an hour of sleep. On a good night, she might get two. She rests a lot during the day to make up for the lack of sleep. The evening before she was interviewed, Jhllenkenes was awoken by a police officer in the park where she'd bedded down for the night.
Illinois school test scores: Income-based gap proves hard to close
Surrounded by sports fields and suburban lawns, Hadley Junior High School could be the envy of the state.
Nine of every 10 students at the Glen Ellyn school passed state exams in reading and math, according to the 2009 Illinois School Report Card made public Friday.
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Nine of every 10 students at the Glen Ellyn school passed state exams in reading and math, according to the 2009 Illinois School Report Card made public Friday.
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